Netflix bought game developers for a lot of money
The American streaming giant Netflix recently bought several game developers for billions. The company has now announced the closure of two external studios, while the number of employees in the internal games division is also shrinking significantly.
Netflix now only operates its own studio
Netflix is apparently significantly scaling back its ambitions in the development of video games. The streaming giant recently announced the closure of two game studios, with the company’s actions sparking massive criticism in the industry. Many observers see the move as evidence of how recklessly large corporations act. Specifically, Netflix is closing Night School Studio, which it took over in 2021. Only about six weeks ago, Night School released a horror game called “Unhinged,” which David Fincher and Zach Gregger, two well-known names in the genre, had worked on developing. Night School had previously made a name for itself with “Oxenfree” and its second part.
Focus on simple games instead of AAA titles
In addition to Night School Studio, the Helsinki-based team at Moonloot, which was only founded in 2022 and has not yet released a game, will also be laid off. Netflix now only operates the Helsinki studio Next Games and an internal gaming team that is supposed to cooperate with external developers. The company is focused, according to sources reporting to the US portal Variety quoted, only to a few types of games. In addition to games for children and for use during parties, the company wants to promote narrative and mainstream titles. However, Netflix had already significantly reduced its gaming plans. The group only separated from the games studio Spry Fox in December, which was sold back to its founder.
In October 2025, the company Boss Fight, which was responsible for the “Squid Game” game for mobile devices, was hit. The Team Blue studio, which focuses on AAA titles, was closed in 2024. According to Variety, Netflix is currently seeing the greatest interest internally in so-called cloud games and titles that are primarily intended to appeal to children. A few years ago, the streaming company increasingly became involved in the development of games in order to bind more users to its platform by expanding the range of films, series and live broadcasts.
